Not all hail the remedy: [1 First With The News Edition]

Not all hail the remedy: [1 First With The News Edition]

Families of abuse victims are guardedly optimistic. One father of a girl sexually abused in an Anglican school says his confidence in the church has been destroyed, and can only be rebuilt if the church is “fair dinkum” about getting rid of abusive employees.

The Anglican Primate of Australia, the Reverend Dr Peter Carnley, believes the national approach will be welcomed by parishioners and the clergy.

[Richard Tutin], who was Toowoomba Preparatory School chaplain when national controversy erupted in late 2001 over the former Brisbane archbishop’s handling of a sex abuse complaint, says the church’s national strategy will work only if all dioceses are committed to cultural change.

A NEW national strategy being implemented by the Anglican Church to stamp out child sexual abuse within its ranks has been met with cautious optimism by victims and their families, parishioners, priests and child protection academics.

The strategy depends upon each of Australia’s 23 dioceses approving model church laws.

Families of abuse victims are guardedly optimistic. One father of a girl sexually abused in an Anglican school says his confidence in the church has been destroyed, and can only be rebuilt if the church is “fair dinkum” about getting rid of abusive employees.

“I won’t believe it until I see it,” he says.

“If existing complaints are investigated and people are turfed out and charged, I’ll know the new strategy is working.”

A former Anglican schoolteacher in Brisbane would like to think the national strategy is a sign the church was trying to get rid of pedophiles, but fears there could still be a temptation for cover- ups.

“All sexual assault should be reported to the police,” she says.

“Reporting to the church enables them to sweep it under the carpet. It’s endemic and it’s quite a club and they’re protecting each other.”

A Toowoomba parishioner says he has been shunned by the church hierarchy after successfully preventing a suspected pedophile, who has now been sacked, from being sent to the parish by then archbishop Peter Hollingworth.

To restore his faith in the church, actions will have to speak louder than words.

“They have to be seen to be having people convicted,” he says.

“I would want to see the church handing over people to the law.”

A senior churchman says past failures were due in part to misunderstanding child sex offenders and granting them Christian forgiveness too easily.

“Pedophiles are like heroin addicts — they will do anything to get what they want. The notions of cure are elusive. These people should not be trusted readily, easily or ever.”

Under the new scheme, each diocese would have a professional standards committee to investigate and manage all complaints and information concerning sexual abuse and harassment by clergy, paid church workers and volunteers. A professional standards director would ensure full compliance and a professional standards board would determine whether conduct rendered a person unfit to hold office.

Brisbane Archbishop Phillip Aspinall is hoping the church synod will agree to establish a professional standards board when it meets

in June.

The Anglican Primate of Australia, the Reverend Dr Peter Carnley, believes the national approach will be welcomed by parishioners and the clergy.

Toowoomba parish priest Richard Tutin has been shocked by the charging of clergy whom he has known as personal friends and colleagues for many years.

“I had no idea — not even a raised suspicion. I have been disappointed. You trust people and you find that trust is shattered,” he says.

But Tutin, who was Toowoomba Preparatory School chaplain when national controversy erupted in late 2001 over the former Brisbane archbishop’s handling of a sex abuse complaint, says the church’s national strategy will work only if all dioceses are committed to cultural change.

As a member of the diocesan selection panel for appointing new clergy, Tutin also backs a rigorous new selection process for priests.

Carnley says the new professional standards boards will be less adversarial and will encourage victims to come forward.

But he does not expect a flood of new complaints or a costly compensation bill.

“Most victims are saying they are really not in a grab for money. They are more in need of counselling help,” he says.

“Most people want to be heard and have an issue in their lives properly dealt with and the offender properly dealt with.”

However, an Adelaide minister who advocates for victims of church- related abuse is concerned there has been little consultation with organisations representing them.

“(The church) is dealing with it from a church point of view. From a Christian point of view, ministry is caring for the needs of others,” Reverend Don Owers says.

He says adult complainants coming forward recently seemed to be getting the same legalistic treatment, because the church was seeking to escape liability by claiming clergy were not employees but independent office-bearers.

“That is a legal fiction,” he says.

ONE of Australia’s leading child protection academics, Associate Professor Chris Goddard, says the national strategy is a small step in the right direction.

“The churches have had many chances to get their houses in order and have failed, so a healthy degree of cynicism is understandable from congregations and the community,” he says.

Goddard, head of the Department of Social Work at Monash University and director of the Child Abuse and Family Violence Research Unit, says that while procedures and behaviour codes are necessary, they alone will not protect children: “Nothing will protect children unless the church believes protecting children is the most important of priorities.

“In order to continue molesting children, the deviant priest has to subvert the church.

“Sadly, many churches have been willing to be subverted.”

Solicitor Simon Morrison, a partner in law firm Shine Roche McGowan which has represented more than 100 sexual abuse victims, says victims get some satisfaction